His mouth is still sore, but no smell and the teeth have moved into better placement. If we don’t have anything that is impacted or cracked, then rasping should fix his issues. It’s healed a lot better then I would have expected.
We have one more month before the vet will come and take a look as he still needs four more weeks of healing since being kicked in the mouth by Z.
Balancing exercises from the dvd Activate your Horses’ Core by Dr. Hilary Clayton and Dr. Narelle Stubbs. This is one in a series of notes I’ve written to record my horses’ progress.
Disclaimer: I highly recommend you consult your vet and chirporactor first, and read and research if these exercises are appropriate for your horse due to his training, health, age, and past medical history. I am posting this information primarily for my own benefit as notes and to record progress of my own horses.
Exercises are started 3x working up to 5x each, held 3-5 seconds, done 3-5x a week, post regular exercise (so muscles are warmed up prior). It is preferred that the horses’ body remains straight and square, with no backing up.
Balancing exercises are advanced and it’s recommended that you do the other set of exercises (Mobilization and Core) for months before proceeding. I will mention these here briefly but since I will be doing only the weight shifts and tail pulls, I note them here only for future goals.
Backward Weight Shift – a subtle weight shift back, by using a hand – moving upwards and backwards – applying pressure on a pectoral muscle with the other hand resting on the spine to feel the lift. The key is for a subtle shift back that does not result in a backwards step. Big Guy has already been doing this exercise.
Thought: if your horse is heavy on the forehand, asking for these shifts back, starts to improve his strength in supporting himself properly, and helps him understand what you want him to do.
Using the Linda Tellington-Jones Balance Rein, I can ask for this shift back from the saddle.
Lumbosacral Lifting & Backward Weight Shift – the pelvic tilt is facilitated with pressure above the tail, and the horse is asked to shift back from the sternum (see above) at the same time. Very advanced. Future goal for Big Guy.
Tail Pull – Unlike the Linda Tellington-Jones TTouch of the same name, this is not a backwards pull on the tail but a tail pull that is done by moving the tail to the side. The horse resists the pull and engages his muscles isometrically.
Tails pulls down from the side
Strenghtens the superficial gluteals, the Biceps Femoris and Tenor Fascia Lata – is important in Big Guy’s rehabilitation from his pelvis fracture (01-09) as these muscles all control pelvic activity.
Tail Pull / Combined Faciliations – Sternum and Belly Lift with the Tail Pull (see above). Future goal for Big Guy.
Forelimb Destabilization Exercises – future goal for Big Guy. Action is lifting one foreleg, holding and asking for weight shift backwards – generally to the opposite hindleg of the foreleg being held up. Can be combined (very advanced) with a pelvic tilt.
Hindlimb Destabililzation Exercises – future goal for Big Guy. Action is lifting one hindleg, holding and asking for weight shift backwards. Can be combined (very advanced) with a pelvic tilt.
Hindlimb Extension – future goal for Big Guy. Extends hindleg with a stretch of one hindleg backwards.
Just a closing note on the exercises presented in this blog series, please if this interests you check out Dr. Claytons’ books and dvd available for purchase online. This can give you the full, comprehensive material and instructions you will need to do this safely and competently.
The exercises described in this post go over some pretty advanced and athletic muscle contractions. I feel a horse has to be pretty experienced and fit to perform them and even with my senior horse, with many years of training behind him, some of them are not suitable. For instance the hindlimb destabilization at this point would probably cause him to fall over!
Remember to take into context your horses fitness level, medical history, and see a vet or chiropractor before proceeding.
Core Stability exercises from the dvd Activate your Horses’ Core by Dr. Hilary Clayton and Dr. Narelle Stubbs. This is one in a series of notes I’ve written to record my horses’ progress.
Disclaimer: I highly recommend you consult your vet and chiropractor first, and read and research if these exercises are appropriate for your horse due to his training, health, age, and past medical history. I am posting this information primarily for my own benefit as notes and to record progress of my own horses.
Core Stability exercises are the next step after your horse is familiar with the Mobilization exercises (see that post)… Core Stability stimulates the abdominal and back muscles using motion that are Horse Led (letting the horse determine the amount and duration of stretch).
Exercises are started 3x working up to 5x each, held 3-5 seconds, done 3-5x a week, post regular exercise (so muscles are warmed up prior). It is preferred that the horses’ body remains straight and square, with no backing up.
Thought: These exercises are the ones we commonly think of when told to strengthen the horses’ back. Working from the ground, it is easier to improve the muscle tone and do it faster the asking the horse to do it from the saddle with the riders’ weight and balance.
Sternal, Withers and Thoracic – Between the front legs, at the front portion of the sternum, begin pressure. This lifts first the withers, and then at mid-back along the spine. The horse elongates his head and neck, and lifts his back.
The Linda Tellington-Jones TTouch called the Belly Lift is similar.
Before Belly Lift - note natural line of back
Belly Lift, note the raised back
Lumbar and Lumbosacral Lift – Flexion and bending of the pelvis. lifting the lower back and rounding the lumbosacral area. In this dvd, Dr. Stubbs shows the finger/pressure up the tail spine to activate this response more slowly.
The pelvis flexion I’ve seen done uses the groove at the Poverty Line, applying pressure on either side of the tail. This method also puts you in perfect alignment to be kicked if your horse reacts negatively.
Pelvic Tilt, note the raised back.
Lumbar Lifting and Lateral Bending – angling a line of pressure across opposite side of the rump where you are standing, gains pelvic lift and rotation.
Lumbar Lifting and Lateral Bend
Thought: Lifting and then rotating, increases the pelvis stability and like many core exercises for humans, the strength is further developed when you must hold a bend or uneven balance.
Before the Lumber Lift, note natural line of back
Lumbar Lifting and Lateral Bending - side view
Advanced Combined Rounding Exercises – Combines the belly lift with the Lumbar Lifting/Lateral Bending (see above). If your horse doesn’t lift easily or you have short arms (which I do) you may need a second person to do the belly lift, while you do the lumbar lift and lateral bend.
Mentioned in the dvd is the muscle Biceps Femoris, as a key to pelvis stability – it joins to the sacrum with multiple attachments to the stifle and hock tendons. This is an important area for me to stengthen due to the location of Big Guy’s pelvis fracture (01-09)
Big Guy has little movement in the back in terms of lift.
ZZ has much more back lift due to her youthful strength.
Mobilization exercises from the dvd Activate your Horses’ Core by Dr. Hilary Clayton and Dr. Narelle Stubbs. This is one in a series of notes for my blog I’ve written to record my horses’ progress.
Disclaimer: I highly recommend you consult your vet and chirporactor first, and read and research if these exercises are appropriate for your horse due to his training, health, age, and past medical history. I am posting this information primarily for my own benefit and posts do not go into detail.
Mobilization exercises are the easiest to begin… Stability exercises using motion that are Horse Led (letting the horse determine the amount and duration of stretch). Exercises are started 3x working up to 5x, held 3-5 seconds, done 3-5x a week, post regular exercise (so muscles are warmed up prior). It is preferred that the horses’ body remains straight and square, with no backing up.
These exercises, often known as “carrot stretches” (as a carrot is used for the horse to follow i.e. “bait”, and perform the stretch) have been around for some time, however, this section of the dvd goes into more detail on how to perform it correctly.
Rounding, Longitudinal: neck remains straight when viewed from the front. If the horse moves backward, use a corner, fence or gait to prevent the backward evasion. The horse may bend one foreleg, to aid the bend – this may be used as an evasion from feeling the deepness of the stretch, though I personally allow the horse to show me what he is comfortable with doing, and so do allow a bit of knee bending.
Nose to Chest
Thought: the “behind the bit” horse will perform this exercise easily so this does not mean this method of going horse is athletic but just flexible in this direction. Be sure to encourage the “behind the bit’ horse to stretch forward with the neck extension (see below).
Nose between legs
Thought: Horses can be trained to follow a target to perform these stretches. My preference would be to use clicker training so the horse follows a target, receives a click once the stretch if held fully, then reward.
Going lower, still square in front
too low and he compensates with bent foreleg
Lateral Bending, Rotation and Flexion: Done on both sides. In her video. Dr. Stubbs stands at the shoulder, then flank, and horse wraps around here, in order to prevent a cheating strategy where the horse does a sharp bend. Bending should be low, not high to the hip as this, in some horses, causes an inverted back.
Bends to shoulder
Horse should not move legs, back, forth or sideways; if they do, a wall, fenceline or corner can help.
Bends to girth, nose coming down
Thought: Generally, this exercise shows you that a horse is stiffer to one side then the other. What does this mean for your riding? Let’s say the horse has a harder time reaching to the left side. This means his right side muscles are more contracted – he probably takes the clockwise circle easier then the counter-clockwise circle. On the counter-clockwise circle he may push his nose to the outside, and has a stiff inner shoulder (left).
Neck Extension: Use a low barrier, such as a stall guard or, in my case, the hitching rack. Or ask a helper to put a hand across the chest to prevent forward movement. The stretch is performed low to the ground.
What’s interesting is to see the difference between my two horses. First, Big Guy, a senior who is used to doing carrot stretches and has had some training doing these bends, yet, is also still recovering from an injury on his right side (pelvis fracture – Jan. 09) is able to perform all of these movements relatively easily.
Now ZZ, who is totally ignorant to what I’m wanting her to do, yet is younger (age 3) and healthy, but is still stiff, especially on her bends. This has me thinking I will have the chiropractor do a few sessions with her starting in November.
Be sure to read the intro post here.
Dr. Hilary Clayton’s video Activate your Horses’ Core, features a series of stretching and mobilization exercises for the horse. With Big Guy’s pelvic fracture and rehabilitation, I was very interested in getting this dvd through my online, horse dvd rental group, and see what I could do to continue his improvement.
Dr. Clayton is the Dressage Chair for the McPhail Equine Sports Medicine Center at Michigan State Univeristy and has been studying Equine Biomechanics and lameness issues for decades. Her research is backed with scientific examination, which is of particular interest to me as I feel way too many recommendations or horse “advice” for training and care is based on heresay.
Okay the bad first: the sound on this dvd goes up and down because they used a mic on the woman’s collar (the speaker is Dr. Narelle Stubbs, an animal physical therapist). When she turns her head, the volume shoots way up, and then when she turns away you only hear a mumble. I feel there is too much repetitive information about the benefit of the exercises; this could have been condensed into the intro or as a summary.
In regards to the danger of feeding treats (she recommends gloves to prevent nipping) wouldn’t it be easier to clicker train your horse and insist he take the treat with manners? And you could use clicker training to shape the duration of the hold in the stretch which should be 3-5 seconds instead of feeding more treats to keep the horses’ attention.
Lastly, in the beginning we are told about some safety concerns, and then Dr. Stubbs (the animal physio-therapist) immediately does what she told us not to do! (places herself between the horse and a wall).
This dvd would also have benefited from a color graphic of skeleton and muscle structures of the horse… however, I do think the information contained within is so good and pertinent that I would buy it – it also comes with an accompanying book (that didn’t come with the dvd) which might have resolved some of my concerns about the dvd.
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These exercises are grouped into three areas, and are progressive in nature (meaning the first set is the easiest, on to the third set being hardest):
Mobilization – works the intervertebral joints, the space that is located between any two adjacent vertebrae, such as along the neck and spine.
Core – strengthens the muscles (i.e. the admoninals) responsible for posture and spine and pelvic stabilization.
Balancing – shifting weight from side to side or front to back. Personally, I found these to be somewhat advanced, and was glad to read (as the dvd didn’t discuss it) that Dr. Clayton would recommend you work with your horse for six months with the other exercises before proceeding to these.
I will be examining these three areas in a separate post for each and hopefully have some video also of what Big Guy can do as compared to ZZ (who has much less flexibility and training).
Other articles you might want to check out:
Dr. Claytons’ books and dvd available for purchase online. Actually, despite the problems I mentioned, I feel so strongly that these exercises are good that I will be buying the dvd with the book.
The Horse – has a comprehensive review of what you would use these for, what is appropriate for the horse, and more from Dr. Clayton. It also discusses some of the research Dr. Clayton and her animal physical therapist Dr. Narelle Stubbs have conducted.
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